Annnnnnd that’s it! Chapter over. Want to read it from the beginning? Start right here!

So, Thrice Evil and the Lodge of Doom are in Abbadon and all hell is about to break loose. If you’re thinking the next chapter has lots of fighting in it… you’re right! We haven’t started work on it yet, but my intent is to let Marc do what he does best–draw the snot out of people knocking each other around.

It will be epic. It will be action-packed. It’ll be verrrrry different from the usual “inaction hero” flavor we usually give you around here.

And there will be death. Major death. Not everyone is making it out of this next one.

LOOKING BACK ON CHAPTER 20, “CROSSING WORLDS”

What was Chapter 20 all about? In the most basic terms it was right there in the title: it was all about Avalon crossing over to Abbadon. But, of course, that didn’t work out too well. But there was a lot more to this chapter than that.

The biggest thing for me was getting the gang back together as much as possible. The “team” was spread to the four winds at the start of Chapter 20 and bringing them back together, was, I knew, important not only to move the story forward but for your satisfaction as a reader. Does Spy Gal really love Jerry? What does Cap think of Jerry? How does Spy Gal relate to Dark Maiden? These were questions I wanted answered.

But, the thing I wanted most was to see Jerry meet his “maker.” Avalon Thrice Evil. In the original script for this chapter the meeting was much more brief. Basically, Jerry came out swinging. But, at some point I realized that was neither very satisfying nor true to Jerry’s character. Jerry is a guy who obsesses over his place in the world and what other people think of him. He would need the satisfaction of saying a few words to Thrice. Saying what’s on his heart and mind. So, I gave him that time.

And, sure enough, that eleventh hour addition is my favorite part of this chapter.

I also wanted to deal with this idea of peace vs. freedom, but in a comical way because that’s the not the main thrust of this story. (Last week, several of you got into a debate about some of the ideas I was putting forth. Some of you even called me to task for them. As of this writing, I haven’t responded to those comments. I plan to though, and by the time you read this they’re probably there.)

Zurida has set up a police state, as we’ve seen, but within that people have been able to live their lives to one degree or another. It made sense to me that some in New California would look at that and think, crud, that’s no so bad. I want to get over there. But should they want that? Is comfort–or peace–worth the sacrifice of freedom? Obviously, we all give up some freedoms to not live in an anarchic state, but what’s the line there? For Spy Gal, she knows where the line is. It’s on the other side of the lady who smashed the White House. But it’s been a year since that happened. People forget the bad and they remember the good they used to have. The question is… are they really gonna find it in the USZ? Will they even get the chance?

Next chapter.

I also wanted to explore Earth-Avalon more. There’s a suggestion now, from Swifty, that maybe Earth-Avalon isn’t any better at all. They certainly have death there. They have destruction. But, as someone pointed out in the comments on one of the strips (can’t remember who or which one), Earth-Avalon isn’t a place where tragedy CAN’T happen, it’s just a place where people deal with it better and so things are allowed to trend upwards instead of downwards like they do on Earth-Abbadon. I’m a big believer in the power of… I don’t want to say “positive thinking”, but it’s something like that. I’m a big believer in making the most out of what you have. In not being cynical. I think cynicism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Earth-Avalon is not a cynical place.

For me, really, if you want to break it down, Earth-Avalon is the comics I grew up with–the superhero stories I grew up with. Earth-Abbadon is the comics they make now.

Minus the superheroes, as I’ve said many times before, I do believe we actually live in one of those worlds.

What did you guys think of Chapter 20?

BUT WAIT… WE’RE NOT DONE QUITE YET!

Still coming is a promo image to give you a look at the chapter ahead. Marc is working on it now and we hope to post it in the next week or so. There’s another, exclusive surprise coming for our Patrons. More on that when it’s ready. (This is a good one.)

SPEAKING OF OUR PATRONS…

THANK YOU, PATRONS! You made this chapter possible and every single SuperFogeys reader has you to thank for keeping this story going so it can reach its natural conclusion. I’m not kidding. We just can’t do this for free anymore, neither me nor Marc. So we thank you for your sacrifice. You are very important to us.

I had grand plans to keep updating the behind-the-scenes blog on Patreon while the chapter was running, but as you may have guessed that proved quite difficult. There was a lot to do just to keep up with the regular strip.

Well, now that the chapter is done we’re going back to behind-the-scenes mode. I’ll be posting as much as I can of our progress on Chapter 21 as Marc and I work our way through it. This is going to be an exciting, exciting chapter so you’re in for good stuff.

ALSO, we know there are some rewards we still need to get out there–particularly the Milestone awards. Expects news on those soon. We haven’t forgotten, we’ve just been putting our energies into the strip. Thanks for understanding and not making a big deal about it.

I would be a complete loser if I didn’t call special attention to the phenomenal work Marc Lapierre did on this challenging chapter (so… many… characters… so… many… different… fingered… hands…). He kept SF true to its roots while exploring dynamic lighting (I mean, just look at this strip) and capturing those subtleties of character that are this story’s bread and butter. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your tireless efforts, Marc!

What did I think about chapter 20? I like it for the most part, but did I miss the bit where it was explained how Thrice Evil knew about the attempt to open a portal to Earth-Abbadon and, most especially, how he knew the exact moment to strike? Because to be honest, to me it seemed to be a bit Devil ex Machina.